What is the Importance of Apostolicity for the Formation of the Canon?
As I indicated in a prior post, I am starting a new 10-part video series on big questions related to the faith, and particularly the origins and reliability of the New Testament.
So, here’s the next installment in the series: “What is the Importance of Apostolicity for the Formation of the Canon?”… Continue reading...
How Did the New Testament Canon Come to Be?
As I indicated in a prior post, I am starting a new 10-part video series on big questions related to the faith, and particularly the origins and reliability of the New Testament.
So, here’s the next installment in the series: “How Did the New Testament Canon Come to Be?”… Continue reading...
One of the Most Overlooked Arguments for the Resurrection
Well, soon it will be Easter. That wonderful time of the year when we remember (and celebrate) the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
But, not all will be celebrating. There are many that find Easter to be a senseless holiday—apart from, perhaps, the joys of Sunday brunch or chocolate eggs. After all, it is argued, we all know that people don’t rise from the dead. And there are no reasons to think it happened in the case of Jesus of Nazareth.
In response to such skepticism, apologists have been making their best arguments for the resurrection. There’s the empty tomb. There’s the fact that women were the first eyewitnesses … Continue reading...
Think You Know the Christmas Story?
Bah, humbug.
That’s probably one of the most well-known lines in literary (and now, cinematic) history. Everybody immediately recognizes the curmudgeonly voice of Ebeneezer Scrooge as he pours cold water all over our Christmas spirit.
And his point is still made today by some, albeit in different words. It’s that the Christmas story just isn’t true. It’s rubbish. It’s made up. It’s all in our heads.
While now is not the time for a full-scale defense of the historicity of the Christmas story, Scrooge’s skepticism does prompt us to wonder whether we’ve gotten the story right. Are we telling the story that really was, or are we just telling the
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What Should We Make of the Hypothetical “Q” Source?
Students of the Gospels will know that there has been a long-standing discussion among scholars about the relationship between the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). These three Gospels are so similar at so many points (often word for word), that it raises a number of intriguing questions. Did they know each other? Did they use each other?
For generations, the dominant answer to this question has been the so-called “Two Source” hypothesis. In brief, that hypothesis argues that Mark wrote first, and then Matthew and Luke independently used Mark. Since Matthew and Luke did not know each other (so the argument goes), then the common material they share that … Continue reading...